https://mattbruenig.com/2021/09/20/when-mcdonalds-came-to-de...

Historically solidarity between workers is the reason why you only work 8 (instead of 16) hour days. Why workers have vacation days, sick pay, pensions and maternity leave etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity

Why? We don’t trust the state to do it better. Neither employees nor employers do.

"Other people are using their own free will and self determination to undermine a CORPORATION!"

Cartel behavior requires coordination and collusion. If they are just following general social/business practices without having meetings about who to blacklist, then it doesn't meet most definitions.

The TL;DR of US labor law is:

1. Companies do [very illegal under local law, up to and including murder] things to bust unions; they buy off the local authorities to get away with this.

2. The Federal government adds specific protections for unions -- many of which don't exist in various European countries.

3. Companies complain that #2 makes unions too powerful, so the Federal government adds specific restrictions on unions -- many of which don't exist in various European countries.

I'm curious about the history in Europe, since an equilibrium seems to have been found without steps #2 and #3.

Also many unions did what business owners had done for centuries and went into politics. The social Democratic party in Sweden for example, is a part of the largest labour union. This is somewhat controversial in some circles, for sure, but changes the power dynamic for steps 2 and 3 a lot.

did you know the nordic countries are among the happiest and have some of the strongest social benefits in the world while still being wealthy?

I do wonder how much of this is due to cultural homogeneity and the benefits that follow. Will this remain the case in the presence of a larger proportion of immigrants? I don't think its a fair comparison, when people contrast Nordic countries with the US.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66964723

Unions have whatever powers they've been allowed to have by the country they operate in, just as do corporations and police forces.

[0] Where you put the line between balancing the powers of unions vs. corporations is one of the major political dividing lines for the last 175 years, I'm not going to do it justice.

Well no. They showed up and discouraged people from entering by generally being a nuisance and creating an uncomfortable atmosphere where you wouldn't feel like eating lunch. Had they physically blocked people from entering that would have been illegal.

The unions have very good lawyers that know exactly where the line between legal and illegal harassment is.

It's one thing to discourage people from engaging with a business because of their labour practices, it's another thing entirely to actively prevent them from doing so.

To be clear I don’t mind if some group of people employs collective bargaining as a negotiation strategy, but the described behavior should be swiftly punished with fines, reparations and possibly light prison sentences. Alas, many unions are somehow above the law in matters of harassment.

It's not like Tesla has a real customer presence that would be driven away or anything. It's not a restraunt.

See e.g.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3cenlm/til_t...

Companies that are staunchly anti union everywhere else often capitulate in Sweden